[TheoS53]

....or would you say, bollocks, bass is not that much pronouced. Well, i would need an slightly bass heavy amplifier anyway for my likes, so nothing i would complain about...

The thing is most of these quality DACs and/or amps simply do NOT have any kind of "boost" in any particular frequency range...they're all either completely flat within the audible spectrum, or flat enough to not be noticed by our limited hearing capabilities. The mistake people make (and I've made this mistake myself in the past) is that they either do not understand or have forgotten that many headphones (especially open back headphones and BA IEMs) experience a change in their frequency response depending on the output impedance of the amp (assuming that the amp too doesn't have any output impedance swing).

So what really happens, more often than not, when people describe a sonic difference between one amp and another, what they're actually describing is the effect of an altered frequency response of their headphone/IEMs. And then there's also the mistake of not properly volume-matching as well.

 

[ninetylol]

Well i beg to differ, i had the ifi nano Bl and sold it to a friend. Was comparing it to my Dragonfly Red and the ifi got a slight bass boost (dont like that word though) I liked it very much, it was really subtle but noticable and did not bleed into mids. I will test the nano Bl this weekend with my new Nightowls. Its a fantastic Dac/Amp but i could only afford one and Nightowls were more or less finetunded with DFR.

 

[KaiFi]

I agree that the Nano is fairly warm sounding; it sounds warmer than my DFR (with Sennheiser HD 599). But does anyone else find the soundstage a little too wide? I've noticed that on some tracks, the wide soundstage is a bit distracting, with some sounds only coming out of the left channel and others only out of the right (as compared with the sound through the DFR, I mean. This is noticeable with orchestral music especially). I've seen some reviewers describe the soundstage as "artificial"; I don't know if I would go that far, but it's certainly wider than any DAC I've used so far (Modi 2, DFR).

 

[TheoS53]

Finally, my review for the Nano BL is up!

 

[Jwass87]

In case anyone is looking for information on wiring the 3.5 mm 4 pole to 4 pin xlr balanced.

T - L+
R1 - R+
R2 - L-
S - R-

 

[Jwass87]

 

[Dutch1Schaefer]

I am newish to owning any hifi gear. This being my first dac/amp combo it improves the sound quality extremely well imo and my brother and wife’s compared to the iPhone 6s dac. I set up a little test told neither what the little black box did and I let them listen to 3 of their favorite tracks straight from my iem’s (rha t20) into the iPhone. My brother and wife have no clue about higher end audio. I let them play music from Spotify. After letting them mess around for a while I had them listen to the same tracks plugged into the ifi nano bl and had them make a few notes as they were listening. I know this is not scientific or the way to prove anything but both said they “heard greater detail in vocals and better separation in the instruments”
“Sounded like I was in the studio or where the artists recorded the music” “it sounds more live”
“I feel like I’m at a concert” for $199 US this product is a win in my opinion. I’ve heard allot more expensive DACs and amps with better headphones that have cost up to $5,000 But for $400 I’m completely satisfied with my setup for now and I’m always looking to get great sounding audio for cheap. MOST people can spend $400 if you save up having the most basic paying of jobs. Amazing sounding audio does not have to cost you an arm and a leg.

 

[Dutch1Schaefer]

I agree that the Nano is fairly warm sounding; it sounds warmer than my DFR (with Sennheiser HD 599). But does anyone else find the soundstage a little too wide? I've noticed that on some tracks, the wide soundstage is a bit distracting, with some sounds only coming out of the left channel and others only out of the right (as compared with the sound through the DFR, I mean. This is noticeable with orchestral music especially). I've seen some reviewers describe the soundstage as "artificial"; I don't know if I would go that far, but it's certainly wider than any DAC I've used so far (Modi 2, DFR).

I don’t have much to compare to since the ifi nano is my first dac. But I think it may be due to the mixing of the audio. I recorded with my band in a studio and my guitarist was pretty knowledgeable of what the studio engineer was doing, you pan things into the different channels left and right. You “create” the soundstage. Like I said I’m no expert and I can sense certain recordings with the greater seperation like your talking about and others not so much. I think recording to recording can differ largely and how the sound engineer wants it to sound. Their are so many variables how music is recorded. Just my .2

 

[329161]

Has anyone used this in balanced mode, and how does it compare with the Oppo HA2 SE?

 

[Spandy87]

Here's a review.



Be careful when using the Nano BL with high sensitivity IEMs like the Andromeda. IEmatch wreck the sound a bit.

 

[329161]

Just got one of these. Fantastic little device. Very very good sound quality, about 90% that of the Micro idsd bl, and Mojo. Drives my 250 ohm dt1770 very well. Couldn't be happier with the purchase.

 

[ExpatinJapan]

What sources are people using with the nano blk?

Iphones
Android phones
.....?

Thanks

 

[iFi audio]

Here's a review.



Be careful when using the Nano BL with high sensitivity IEMs like the Andromeda. IEmatch wreck the sound a bit.

Though we don't quite agree with IEMatch to have an adverse impact on the sound, thank you for your review. Nice work!

As for IEMatch itself, this is an option for customers to decide whether it works for them.

Also, please do check this thread, iEMatch is explained in detail there:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/what-the-heck-is-it-ifi-iematch.814317/

 

[329161]

What sources are people using with the nano blk?

Iphones
Android phones
.....?

Thanks

I'm using Android

 

[HalSF]

What sources are people using with the nano blk?

Iphones
Android phones
.....?

Thanks

I'm using a Hidizs AP60ii DAP, iPhone, and a MacBook Pro laptop as sources.